Indian applicants for United Kingdom visas will now pay noticeably more after the British Home Office’s global fee revision took effect on 8 April 2026. According to an advisory from the British High Commission in India, the cost of a standard six-month visit visa has risen from £127 to £135, while the two-, five- and ten-year visit visas now cost £506, £903 and £1,128 respectively. Study-visa seekers face an increase from £524 to £558, and the popular Skilled-Worker visa (valid up to three years) climbs from £769 to £819. Dependant family members pay the same amounts as principal applicants, pushing total outlays for Indian corporates that relocate whole families even higher. The Home Office says the hikes will fund a “streamlined, digital immigration system”, but Indian consultants warn they arrive just as the rupee has weakened beyond ₹105 to the pound, magnifying the hit in rupee terms.
For those seeking a smoother way to navigate the higher fees and changing requirements, VisaHQ’s India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) provides real-time cost calculators, document checklists and end-to-end filing assistance for UK visas, helping both individual travellers and corporate mobility teams cut down on avoidable delays and expenses.
For Indian companies that regularly send employees to the UK on short-term assignments, the higher fees will add thousands of pounds to annual mobility budgets. Universities and ed-tech firms likewise worry that marginal students could defer or divert to Canada or Australia, where headline visa costs remain lower. UK institutions counter that generous post-study work rights and an improving appointment backlog still make the UK attractive, but acknowledge that scholarship offices may have to increase grants to offset the steeper entry costs. Indian travel agents report a rush of last-minute submissions on 7 April as applicants tried to lock in older prices. VFS Global, the UK’s outsource partner, briefly extended centre hours in Delhi and Mumbai to cope with the surge. Going forward, corporates are reviewing their global-mobility policies: some plan to reclaim the incremental cost through salary claw-backs if an assignee resigns early, while others are negotiating volume-based discounts with relocation vendors. Small businesses that rely on the two-year multiple-entry visa for sales trips say they may now downgrade to single visits or explore remote-first alternatives. Practical tip: Indian applicants should budget at least 10 percent extra for ancillary charges—biometrics, courier return and priority processing—now that the core visa fee itself has jumped. Organisations with frequent UK travel needs may find it cheaper to purchase the new ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) once it launches for Indians—currently slated for late 2026—rather than repeat visit-visa filings, but details remain pending.